So after a little over a month of being on the farm, I offer you... YARN!
These are my first two skeins of yarn! The one on the right is my very first one! It's a 2-ply bulky, spun using a drop spindle and fleece from the sheep here on the farm! The left was my first skein on the big-girl wheel! Also a 2-ply, but I practiced spinning much more thin and consistent. The wheel I used is called a Sleeping Beauty (cute!) and is a single treadle, double-drive.
I've just finished my second piece on the spinning wheel. It's still in the process of drying! It's a 3-ply spun from combed top produced by a company called Brown Sheep. There was some stuff laying around that I was able to snatch up and get more practice with! One of the main differences between the two up above and the one below is that the first two I prepped from start to finish (okay... minus the shearing since I've yet to do that). The one below is a pre-prepped and (maybe?) dyed, combed nicely with no VM (as it's called in the fiber world - referring to vegetable matter like hay, sticks, etc). People call this stuff "spinning with butter!" since its so smooth and sleek, slides right off your hands and onto the wheel.
Okay, so you want to know that I (me, Alisha...) am actually the one producing this yarn, right? Well here ya go! I don't have a photo on the wheel, but here's the drop spindle. WEEEE!
So what have I been doing other than letting wool slide through my fingers into my own yarn (eeek!)? Well, one is lots of adventuring around the area seeing beautiful views!
Seabeck
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Buck Lake
Solduc
Somewhere along 101 way north!
La Push (you mean where Twilight was!? Yes..)
Hurricane Ridge
And something you may or may not know... I may be into cars just a little... So a car meet one day, and adventuring to the mountains the next!
And the other thing I've gotten the chance to do is visit some other farms and meet more animals!!
Holding a nubian/alpine baby goat! Only a few days old and SO soft.
His name is Blue Eyes. He's a cashmere/angora goat.
These are some fashionable sheep! Jacob is what their breed is called.
Hi there ladies! They decided to follow me around the pasture - even after their owner gave them new hay.
This guy was cool! Apparently he's not a super people person, and often times he'll butt you for food. Well, he came right up to me, I knelt down (little did I know in a patch of stinging nettles!) and we were face to face. Too cute!
This... is Big Boy! His fleece was SUPER long!
I can't help but giggle every time I see him or his photos and I hope you giggle with happiness too.
And to end you for now, I am enjoying my first cup of goats milk..chocolate milk! (from the farm) with the tulip I bought at my first Farmer's Market here in Washington today!
